Focus: International Anti-Terrorism

State power beyond the law – an introduction
by Norbert Pütter and Heiner Busch
The new global anti-terrorism is characterised by three core elements: an international surveillance structure is created in its name. Wars and military operations are justified by it. And last but not least, the „war on terror“ creates instruments that are neither war nor criminal prosecution, but that link military with police and secret service actions and deny terror suspects all fundamental rights. Summaries weiterlesen →

Prevention: variants of popular belief
by Norbert Pütter
‚Better safe than sorry‘ is not only a popular platitude but also a way to justify any form of police intervention, including repressive ones, as prevention. Next to legitimating the use of state force, preventative policing always implies that future security threats have to be predicted. The logic of prevention thereby creates a need for increased information gathering. As a consequence, the current restructuring of the police according to this logic aims primarily at the police’s capacity to collect and evaluate information, also by means of secret practices, and at the provision of a legal basis for these practices. Further, the logic of prevention necessarily leads to more control and surveillance in everyday civil life. The limitation of state intervention and any chance of a political and legal control of the police are therefore lost. Summaries weiterlesen →

Helpless data protection
by Heiner Busch
Since the 1980s, Germany has been experiencing a spiral of legalisation regarding the methods and technical instruments of police and security services. The result is not the definition of clear norms limiting state surveillance, but rather a rhetoric of data protection law. Illusions about the effect of the Rule of Law, individualising concepts and depoliticisation have turned data protection into a legitimising accessory. Summaries weiterlesen →

EU state in the making
by Heiner Busch
The EU draft constitution has failed. The real constitution remains: the expansive internal market, the militarised external EU policy, restrictive external border policy and an increasingly repressive development of „internal security“ policy. The EU presents itself as an incomplete state. Although governments and Member States control the Council, they pursue an EU legislation that allows them to abolish restrictions they would face under national law. Summaries weiterlesen →

Guests in a high security wing – the preparations for the world cup 2006
by Heiner Busch
„The world is our guest – a time to make friends“, this is the motto of the world cup 2006. As a welcome, Germany is positioning 100.000 police officers, 10.000 private security employees, an unknown number of secret security agents and 7.000 soldiers. Large parts of the Federal Republic will develop into a police-controlled area. CCTV surveillance will not only take place in the stadiums, but also in the enclosed „public viewing areas“. 250.000 people, those who will enter the stadiums without tickets as journalists, volunteers, hot dog sellers or cleaning staff, will have to undergo a security check by the internal security service (Verfassungsschutz). Summaries weiterlesen →

Crime fighting laws and the rule of law – an introduction
by Norbert Pütter, Heiner Busch and Wolf-Dieter Narr
During the last few years, the Federal Constitutional Court on several occasions declared police powers unconstitutional, thereby forcing the federation and the Länder to implement new laws. However, the court’s demand for the protection of the „core areas of private life“, which police and secret services are not allowed to infringe upon during their surveillance operations, does not solve the fundamental problem: any powers designed to fight criminal acts which might possibly occur in the future through the secret collection of data, inevitably lead to undefined legal concepts and destroy the limiting character of the law. Summaries weiterlesen →

Reclaim the streets – an introduction
by Heiner Busch and Norbert Pütter
A square, street or a city district are only „public“ if everybody has access to and equal freedom from surveillance in them. The reality of our cities is increasingly distancing itself from this conception: private appropriation and state regulations are ousting all those from public spaces who interfere with the business of consumerism. At the same time, the public space is increasingly becoming an operational area for the police, supported by more or less privatised security services. The accompanying ideology is expressed in discussions on ‚broken windows‘ and on a threatened ’sense of security‘. Summaries weiterlesen →

Old and new terrorism – an introduction
by Norbert Pütter
The terrorist discourse has resurrected a well tried legitimation for the extension of the security apparatus. Strategies of proactive and infiltrating police methods are on the rise. Police, security services and military are being conflated. Liberal democratic standards are being suspended. The consensus of powerful states in the fight against terrorism is accompanied by the creation of an ‚enemy within‘. Summaries weiterlesen →

More police powers in criminal procedures
by Heiner Busch
The last two decades, criminal procedural law was subject to a series of changes which granted, particularly the police, more powers in preliminary investigations. The Criminal Procedural Code, once considered the Magna Carta of the rights of the accused, has been transformed into the Law on Internal Security. Summaries weiterlesen →

Clearer than ever before…
by Wolf-Dieter Narr
In July, three official reports – two from the U.S. and one from Great Britain – documented the failure of security services. Neither in the case of „11 September“, nor with regard to the Iraq war, have they been able to provide correct information. Secret services are intrinsically linked to the history of the modern state. They are the institutionalised contradiction to democratic constitutions, which no parliamentary control commission and legal regulation will ever solve. Instead of accepting never ending lies of legitimation, we should finally abolish them. Summaries weiterlesen →